A Few More Notable Bob Dylan Collaborations

During the 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, Bob Dylan performed with Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers. In honor of the occasion, we decided to take a look at some of Dylan’s more notable collaborations throughout his legendary career.

The Travelling Wilburys
Collaborators: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty
One of the ultimate supergroups, The Travelling Wilburys came together in 1988, releasing two albums: Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 and the intentionally misnumbered Travelling Wilburys Vol. 3. Unfortunately, the career of the band was cut short after the death of Roy Orbison follwing the release of the first Wilburys album.

“Girl from the North Country” & Unreleased Nashville Skyline Tracks
Collaborator: Johnny Cash
During the sessions for the 1969 album Nashville Skyline, Dylan and Cash recorded several tracks together, but most of them went unused. A cover by the duo of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’s “Girl North Country” was chosen to be Skyline’s opener.

Watch Dylan and Cash performing an outtake of “One Too Many Mornings”:

The Basement Tapes
Collaborators: The Band
Despite the fact that the material from The Basement Tapes was recorded before The Band had even begun work on their debut album, Music from the Big Pink, it is clearly the work of two separate entities, Bob Dylan and The Band, making music together as opposed to The Band simply providing support for Dylan’s music alone. The result was a collection of songs that rebelled not only against the standard recording practices of the era by turning the basement of The Big Pink into a recording studio, but the popular psychedelic sound of the times as well with its homespun ballads.

Seven Songs on Desire
Collaborators: Jacques Levy
Playwright Jacques Levy and Dylan wrote all but two of the songs that appeared on the 1976 album Desire. The resulting material was mostly comprised of lengthy story-songs including the Dylan-favorite “Hurricane” about imprisoned boxed Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.

The Rolling Thunder Revue
Collaborators: Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Kinky Friedman, Bob Neuwirth, T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, Scarlet Rivera, Rob Stoner and Howie Wyeth.
In late 1975 and early 1976, Dylan spearheaded a caravan tour with select group of musicians. Aside from a multitude of other reasons, the tour is also notable for being the first time in over a decade Dylan and Joan Baez performed on the same bill. The tour was documented at its peak and released as an official recording in 2002 with The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue.

Theme Time Radio Hour
Collaborators: Satellite Radio
Dylan took to the airwaves with his Theme Time Radio Hour satellite radio show in 2006. Each episode played songs from a variety of genres including a mix of rockabilly, blues, bebop, pop, folk, R&B, soul, rock and country music usually centered on a particular theme.

“When The Deal Goes Down” Music Video
Collaborators: Scarlett Johansson
Dylan’s Modern Times is considered the third installment in a return to form by the legendary musician. Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft and Modern Times have been compared to the mid-60s trilogy of albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. The music video for “When the Deal Goes Down” prominently features actress Scarlett Johansson.

Watch: